BBC news 2009-12-16 加文本

BBC news 2009-12-16

BBC News with Marian Marshall.

The European Union has initialed an agreement to end one of the world's longest-running trade disputes over bananas. The EU, the world's biggest importer of bananas, is to cut the duty it imposes on Latin American producers of the fruit, while bananas grows in former European colonies will gradually lose the preferential terms they've enjoyed. Andrew Walker reports.
The deal signed in Geneva commits the European Union to gradually lowering the tariffs it imposes on bananas imported mainly from Latin America. The cut will be over a third by 2017. That will reduce the competitive advantage of a group of countries, mainly former colonies of EU states in Africa and Caribbean, which enjoyed tariff-free access. The EU plans to provide those countries with some compensation, in a shape of nearly 300,000 dollars in additional aid.

Britain has announced big changes in defense spending to pay for the war in Afghanistan. Two warships have been off board and many civilian jobs will go to help found a 1.5 billion dollar boost for the campaign in Afghanistan, including 22 new Chinook transport helicopters. Nick Childs reports.
There's been much anguish, emotion and political debate in Britain around whether British troops in Afghanistan are getting enough of the right equipment, not least helicopters. So on one level, these increases, especially in the workhorse Chinook helicopters, will be broadly welcomed. But the first of these new machines won't be available before 2012. And these improvements will be paid for by reducing other defense capabilities, cutting two to three squadrons of fighters, phasing out reconnaissance aircraft early and closing an airbase.

A new more fuel-efficient airliner designed by the American plane maker Boeing has been making its maiden test flight near Seattle. Boeing, which invested 10 billion dollars in the project, says the new 787 Dreamliner will save airlines millions of dollars a year in fuel and maintenance cost. Our correspondent Rajesh Mirchandani watched as the flight got on the way.
Under leaden skies outside Seattle, hundreds of Boeing employees and members of the media watched as the 787, or Dreamliner, took off for the first time -- the maiden voyage of a plane some think will revolutionize air travels. Airlines have ordered more than 800, but production delays mean it is two years behind schedule. And some nervous customers have canceled their orders. Still there were cheers from Boeing workers when it took off. In the race for the skies, they know they face stiff competition from among others, the European consortium Airbus.

The former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has condemned the arrest warrant issued against her by a court in London as an abuse of the British legal system. The warrant alleged that Ms. Livni was responsible for war crimes during Israel's campaign in Gaza earlier this year, when she was a member of Israel's inner cabinet. The warrant was canceled when Ms. Livni called off a visit to London.

World News from the BBC.

President Obama has ordered the purchase of a civilian prison in the United States to house suspects currently held in the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba. From Washington, Adam Brooks reports.
It was one of the earliest acts of the Obama administration, an order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camps. And today the administration took a significant step towards doing so. The prison in Thomson, Illinois, will provide a bleak new home for up to 100 Guantanamo Bay detainees when the camps in Cuba finally close down. Human rights lawyers today welcome to the news that the process of closing Guantanamo Bay seems to be moving ahead. But they still questioned whether all the detainees, many of whom have spent seven years in detention without trial, will ever receive due process.

Mr. Obama has told Democratic Senators not to let disagreement over details halt the passage of a landmark health care reform bill. Mr. Obama said the measure, regardless of its final form, could be the greatest legislative achievement on health care in more than 40 years. Similar legislation has already been passed by the House of Representatives. The bill in the Senate is stalled over several provisions, including one which would extend Medicare public health coverage to people as young as 55. Democrats need all the 60 votes they control in the Senate to get the bill passed.

A trial in Turkey, which lasted nearly 28 years, has finally concluded. More than 1,200 defendants, all alleged members of an extreme left-wing group, were charged following a military coup in 1980. The initial trial lasted for ten years. Then the case went to the appeal court, where it’s set for 13 more years because some of the evidence had gone missing. Thirty-nine of the defendants have now been given life sentences, although they won't actually serve any time because they've already spent so long in jail. Thirteen died during the trial.

BBC News.